Bathroom tile installation issues

[womblefox]

Hi, we are having a bathroom fitted at the moment and I don't know much about tiling - hence why we are getting the experts in. However the experts don't seem to be doing a very good job so far.

We had some very old odd wall cladding removed from the bathroom and the walls behind were OK ish, but not great - I was assuming that the installers would be plastering/skimming, or putting up some plasterboard or tile backing board before tiling to make the walls true. However, I returned home today to find they have tiled straight onto the walls after only a very rough plaster job in a few areas, with only adhesive behind the tiles. The tiles obviously are not square at the corners as it is very visible to the naked eye that the wall bows out about 5-10 mm in places. My questions (before I get stern with the installers)

Will there be some sort of fix I'm not aware of that will make the corners look true and straight? I don't want to get angry with them for them to only say "well we haven't done x yet"

Also is the modern tile adhesive enough to fully waterproof the walls that will get regular showering? I know grout is supposed to be waterproof but in my experience water eventually gets behind there and causes havoc. I expected some sort of waterproof primer/paint/board/sheet or something to be put on the walls first. The tiles are large (58cm x 39cm) ceramic.

By the way this is a large DIY chain installing the bathroom - the tiles cost about £1500 alone so I want it done right!

Hope you can all give me some ammo to use on them tomorrow!

Cheers,

 

[jctilingservices]

Hi, we are having a bathroom fitted at the moment and I don't know much about tiling - hence why we are getting the experts in. However the experts don't seem to be doing a very good job so far.

We had some very old odd wall cladding removed from the bathroom and the walls behind were OK ish, but not great - I was assuming that the installers would be plastering/skimming, or putting up some plasterboard or tile backing board before tiling to make the walls true. However, I returned home today to find they have tiled straight onto the walls after only a very rough plaster job in a few areas, with only adhesive behind the tiles.
By the way this is a large DIY chain installing the bathroom - the tiles cost about £1500 alone so I want it done right!

Hope you can all give me some ammo to use on them tomorrow!

Cheers,

The tiles obviously are not square at the corners as it is very visible to the naked eye that the wall bows out about 5-10 mm in places. My questions (before I get stern with the installers)

Will there be some sort of fix I'm not aware of that will make the corners look true and straight? I don't want to get angry with them for them to only say "well we haven't done x yet"


simple answer is NO, if the corners out its out, that should have been sorted first


Also is the modern tile adhesive enough to fully waterproof the walls that will get regular showering? I know grout is supposed to be waterproof but in my experience water eventually gets behind there and causes havoc. I expected some sort of waterproof primer/paint/board/sheet or something to be put on the walls first. The tiles are large (58cm x 39cm) ceramic.


No, modern tile adhesive is not totally waterproof, neither is the grout unless its epoxy based. I am assuming that the size of your tiles they are using powdered adhesive.
But if the area is going to be more or less constantly getting wet they should have " tanked" the area prior to any tiling


are the walls solid walls or stud walls??

you need to ask them exactly what they are doing, what materials they are using then come back to us.In my opinion these big D.I.Y stores know relatively nothing on the tiling side and have been known to use tilers ( and i use the word loosely) who take short cuts etc etc

But for the price of the tiles you want it doing correctly and only doing once

jimmy

 

[vv2806]

But for the price of the tiles you want it doing correctly and only doing once

I absolutely agree with everything you said but the tiles are already on the wall, so the work can not be done once only. With such large tiles, is it possible to remove them, clean the adhesive and tile again? Or maybe the OP has to complain to the company and require replacement tiles? And find other tilers.

OP, a lesson I learned from bad experience with a plasterer is to be there when the work is done. Even with decent professionals there are usially decisions to be made about the details, it is difficult to envisage everything before the work starts. So I prefer to be present to make the decisions or if I have questions to discuss them with the tradepeople.

Good luck in sorting your bathroom out!

 

[curium]

I'm constantly shocked at how frequent these tales of dodgy tiling jobs arise.

I myself only joined this board when seeking advice on how to properly tile my bathroom myself after paying a 'professional' £2k to tile our ensuite. In our case the grout on the floor tiles started to crack and come loose and one of the floor tiles now rock slightly. The tiling around the window reveal looks amateur and he grouted internal corners and the gap between with the ceiling when I've since learned that these should be siliconed.

My advice to you love is to tell your workman to stop working now as you're not happy with the quality of the work. Pay them no more money.

Try and engage a quality tradesmen whose work you've seen and are happy with.

If the current mob have any problems tell them they can bring it to small claims court. Do not let them continue as it'll just cost more to rectify.

Take plenty of photos of their work so far as evidence if it comes to court.

 

[xr4x4]

photos is a good idea, also if you arent happy, say so, your the customer, your the one whos paying.

i hope you havent paid for the work yet?